Warns of political motives behind disinformation

THE Government of Guyana has condemned what it described as “unpatriotic and sustained efforts” by certain individuals to spread Venezuelan propaganda online, warning that such actions are aimed at sowing division and fear among the population.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation called out individuals who have been sharing misleading or fabricated content, much of which it said is either unrelated to Guyana, outdated, or entirely false.
“The Government of Guyana has noted the unpatriotic and sustained efforts of some in spreading Venezuelan propaganda; some of which is dated, some not related to Guyana and some totally fabricated. These posts are generated to create unease, tension and unnecessary worry among the population, no doubt with an ulterior political motive,” the Ministry stated.

The Ministry urged citizens to rely solely on official government communications regarding matters related to Venezuela, particularly as tensions continue over that country’s unlawful claim to Guyana’s Essequibo region.

“We urge Guyanese to rely only on official communications on this matter and avoid falling prey to those with an alternative unpatriotic agenda,” the statement added.
The warning comes amid increased online activity linked to Venezuela’s disinformation campaign, which continues to falsely assert sovereignty over Guyanese territory in violation of international law.

The warning comes as Venezuela intensifies its propaganda campaign to support its baseless claim over Guyana’s Essequibo region.
The campaign has included fake news videos, manipulated AI-generated images, and disinformation spread by social media accounts linked to pro-Venezuelan interests.

In some instances, videos falsely depicting border invasions have been circulated, claims which the Venezuelan government has not publicly debunked.

Previously, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C. has appealed to citizens to only listen to and read the official channels of communication regarding the ongoing border controversy.

“We caution against such publications, they do nobody any good; they certainly don’t have a positive impact on the psyche of Guyanese, and they can lead not only to unnecessary apprehension, tension and stress, but can also lead to provocative acts, which can be inimical to our national interest at this point in time,” he said.
To this end, Nandlall related that the government continues to appeal to people to not do those things and not pay heed to those publications.
Against this backdrop, he said that the Government of Guyana will continue to intensify its public engagements on the question of the border controversy.

As part of its digital countermeasures, the Government has engaged Meta (Facebook’s parent company) regarding a surge in deceptive content.
Several fake pages and profiles have been created to circulate maps falsely depicting the Essequibo region as part of Venezuela.
Although some users have reported the misleading content, many of the accounts remain active.
Venezuela has ramped up its claims for Guyana’s Essequibo region in recent years as oil discoveries by ExxonMobil in the prolific Stabroek Block continue to increase.
Guyana approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2018 asking it to rule on the validity of the 1899 pact which settled the land border between the two countries.

Meanwhile, Director of Frontiers in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Donnette Streete, had also previously cautioned Guyanese to be careful with following some of the utterances coming out of the Venezuelan government on the border controversy, explaining that the neighbouring country is involved in a massive propaganda campaign on the issue.

“So, these are all deliberate misinterpretations of the Geneva Agreement, that the government of Venezuela has been propagating and if we are not careful, I think we can get really caught and sucked into that level of propaganda,” Streete said.
She describes Venezuela’s continued claims over the Essequibo as increasingly ridiculous that has no basis in law and goes against the spirit of the Geneva Agreement.
“Venezuela’s claims became more outrageous so essentially what happened the Government of Venezuela started out by declaring that the award was invalid from this original declaration.

“Venezuela then graduated her claim to the Essequibo region, and then it moved from the Essequibo belong to Venezuela to the waters off the coast of Essequibo belonging to Venezuela, then it moved from that to now claim has graduated to include the water off the Coast of even the water of Demerara and Berbice,” Streete pointed out.

The Government has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to peace and international legal processes, including the ongoing case before the ICJ, while reinforcing national unity and vigilance in the face of external threats.